335 research outputs found
Selection Of A Novel Aptamer Against Vitronectin Using Capillary Electrophoresis And Next Generation Sequencing
Breast cancer (BC) results in ≃40,000 deaths each year in the United States and even among survivors treatment of the disease may have devastating consequences, including increased risk for heart disease and cognitive impairment resulting from the toxic effects of chemotherapy. Aptamer-mediated drug delivery can contribute to improved treatment outcomes through the selective delivery of chemotherapy to BC cells, provided suitable cancer-specific antigens can be identified. We report here the use of capillary electrophoresis in conjunction with next generation sequencing to develop the first vitronectin (VN) binding aptamer (VBA-01; Kd 405 nmol/l, the first aptamer to vitronectin (VN; Kd = 405 nmol/l), a protein that plays an important role in wound healing and that is present at elevated levels in BC tissue and in the blood of BC patients relative to the corresponding nonmalignant tissues. We used VBA-01 to develop DVBA-01, a dimeric aptamer complex, and conjugated doxorubicin (Dox) to DVBA-01 (7:1 ratio) using pH-sensitive, covalent linkages. Dox conjugation enhanced the thermal stability of the complex (60.2 versus 46.5°C) and did not decrease affinity for the VN target. The resulting DVBA-01-Dox complex displayed increased cytotoxicity to MDA-MB-231 BC cells that were cultured on plasticware coated with VN (1.8 × 10⁻⁶mol/l) relative to uncoated plates (2.4 × 10⁻⁶ mol/l), or plates coated with the related protein fibronectin (2.1 × 10⁻⁶ mol/l). The VBA-01 aptamer was evaluated for binding to human BC tissue using immunohistochemistry and displayed tissue specific binding and apparent association with BC cells. In contrast, a monoclonal antibody that preferentially binds to multimeric VN primarily stained extracellular matrix and vessel walls of BC tissue. Our results indicate a strong potential for using VN-targeting aptamers to improve drug delivery to treat BC
Yukawa couplings and masses of non-chiral states for the Standard Model on D6-branes on T6/Z6'
The perturbative leading order open string three-point couplings for the
Standard Model with hidden USp(6) on fractional D6-branes on T6/Z6' from
arXiv:0806.3039 [hep-th], arXiv:0910.0843 [hep-th] are computed. Physical
Yukawa couplings consisting of holomorphic Wilsonian superpotential terms times
a non-holomorphic prefactor involving the corresponding classical open string
Kaehler metrics are given, and mass terms for all non-chiral matter states are
derived. The lepton Yukawa interactions are at leading order flavour diagonal,
while the quark sector displays a more intricate pattern of mixings. While N=2
supersymmetric sectors acquire masses via only two D6-brane displacements -
which also provide the hierarchies between up- and down-type Yukawas within one
quark or lepton generation -, the remaining vector-like states receive masses
via perturbative three-point couplings to some Standard Model singlet fields
with vevs along flat directions. Couplings to the hidden sector and messengers
for supersymmetry breaking are briefly discussed.Comment: 52 pages (including 8p. appendix); 5 figures; 14 tables; v2:
discussion in section 4.1.3 extended, footnote 5 added, typos corrected,
accepted by JHE
DBI Inflation using a One-Parameter Family of Throat Geometries
We demonstrate the possibility of examining cosmological signatures in the
DBI inflation setup using the BGMPZ solution, a one-parameter family of
geometries for the warped throat which interpolate between the Maldacena-Nunez
and Klebanov-Strassler solutions. The warp factor is determined numerically and
subsequently used to calculate cosmological observables including the scalar
and tensor spectral indices, for a sample point in the parameter space. As one
moves away from the KS solution for the throat the warp factor is qualitatively
different, which leads to a significant change for the observables, but also
generically increases the non-Gaussianity of the models. We argue that the
different models can potentially be differentiated by current and future
experiments.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures; v2: section 4 expanded, references added; v3:
typos fixe
Rapidly-Varying Speed of Sound, Scale Invariance and Non-Gaussian Signatures
We show that curvature perturbations acquire a scale invariant spectrum for
any constant equation of state, provided the fluid has a suitably
time-dependent sound speed. In order for modes to exit the physical horizon,
and in order to solve the usual problems of standard big bang cosmology, we
argue that the only allowed possibilities are inflationary (albeit not
necessarily slow-roll) expansion or ekpyrotic contraction. Non-Gaussianities
offer many distinguish features. As usual with a small sound speed,
non-Gaussianity can be relatively large, around current sensitivity levels. For
DBI-like lagrangians, the amplitude is negative in the inflationary branch, and
can be either negative or positive in the ekpyrotic branch. Unlike the power
spectrum, the three-point amplitude displays a large tilt that, in the
expanding case, peaks on smallest scales. While the shape is predominantly of
the equilateral type in the inflationary branch, as in DBI inflation, it is of
the local form in the ekpyrotic branch. The tensor spectrum is also generically
far from scale invariant. In the contracting case, for instance, tensors are
strongly blue tilted, resulting in an unmeasurably small gravity wave amplitude
on cosmic microwave background scales.Comment: 41 pages, 12 figures. v4: Few typos in equations (7.39) correcte
D6-branes and torsion
The D6-brane spectrum of type IIA vacua based on twisted tori and RR
background fluxes is analyzed. In particular, we compute the torsion factors of
the (co)homology groups H_n and describe the effect that they have on D6-brane
physics. For instance, the fact that H_3 contains Z_N subgroups explains why RR
tadpole conditions are affected by geometric fluxes. In addition, the presence
of torsional (co)homology shows why some D6-brane moduli are lifted, and it
suggests how the D-brane discretum appears in type IIA flux compactifications.
Finally, we give a clear, geometrical understanding of the Freed-Witten anomaly
in the present type IIA setup, and discuss its consequences for the
construction of semi-realistic flux vacua.Comment: 35 pages, 1 figure. One reference adde
Calibrated cycles and T-duality
For Hitchin's generalised geometries we introduce and analyse the concept of
a structured submanifold which encapsulates the classical notion of a
calibrated submanifold. Under a suitable integrability condition on the ambient
geometry, these generalised calibrated cycles minimise a functional occurring
as D-brane energy in type II string theories, involving both so-called NS-NS-
and R-R-fields. Further, we investigate the behaviour of calibrated cycles
under T-duality and construct non-trivial examples.Comment: 43 pages. v4: formalism and T-duality part considerably expande
Deformations of calibrated D-branes in flux generalized complex manifolds
We study massless deformations of generalized calibrated cycles, which
describe, in the language of generalized complex geometry, supersymmetric
D-branes in N=1 supersymmetric compactifications with fluxes. We find that the
deformations are classified by the first cohomology group of a Lie algebroid
canonically associated to the generalized calibrated cycle, seen as a
generalized complex submanifold with respect to the integrable generalized
complex structure of the bulk. We provide examples in the SU(3) structure case
and in a `genuine' generalized complex structure case. We discuss cases of
lifting of massless modes due to world-volume fluxes, background fluxes and a
generalized complex structure that changes type.Comment: 52 pages, added references, added comment on ellipticity in appendix
B, made minor changes according to instructions referee JHE
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